Abstract
Non-technical summaryA small benefit of the disastrous COVID-19 pandemic has been the temporary reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, this paper asks: what strategies can return people to workwithoutreturning to the old high-emissions economy? How can we modify the old economic system to reduce environmental impacts while rebuilding employment? Technological change, such as replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy (RE), is necessary but, in an economy that's growing, unlikely to be sufficiently rapid to avoid dangerous climate change. Degrowth in physical consumption, especially by the ‘rich’ 10%, towards a steady-state economy, is needed as well as low-carbon jobs.
Highlights
In the first half of 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, global CO2 emissions were 8.8% lower than in the same period in 2019 (Liu et al, 2020)
This foreshadows the magnitude of the climate mitigation challenge, which is underlined by the observation that, despite the appearance of a second wave of COVID-19 in several parts of the world, there was, commencing in April–May 2020, an increase in global emissions as some economies started to recover from the pandemic (Liu et al, 2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up the opportunity for a sustainable development recovery
Summary
In the first half of 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, global CO2 emissions were 8.8% lower than in the same period in 2019 (Liu et al, 2020). During the pandemic and its recovery, there is the opportunity to debate, develop and implement new or modified socioeconomic systems that can create and maintain ‘sustainable prosperity’ while being consistent with ecological sustainability and improved social equity/justice (D’Alessandro et al, 2020; Wiedmann et al, 2020) Within this context, the scenario of this paper addresses rapid climate mitigation for the former and full employment, together with health benefits (Krug & Eberl, 2018; WHO, 2018), for the latter. It finds that technological change is necessary, but unlikely to be sufficient for keeping heating significantly below 2°C, and that socioeconomic and behavioural changes may be necessary.
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